Romanian ophan studies

• Rutter’s ERA study procedure 


  Studied a group of about 165 Romanian orphans and assessed them at four, six and eleven years old, in terms of psychological, emotional and physical development.

  These results were co

  pared to 50 children adopted in Britain at roughly the same time, which acted as a control group.
• Ruttee’s findings

  50% showed mental retardation. The mean IQ was dependent upon the age of which the orphans were adopted. Eg. those adopted before 6 months of age had an IQ 25 points higher than those adopted after 2 years of age.
• Rutte’s findings 


  Those adopted after 6 months displayed signs of disinhibited attachment (a type of disorganised attachment), whereas those adopted before 6 months rarely showed such signs. This is characterised by attention-seeking and affectionate behaviour being shown towards all adults, and is thought to be the result of having too many caregivers within the critical period of attachment formation, so a secure attachment cannot be developed.
• Rutters conclusions 


  Rutter et al demonstrated the importance and effects of adopting orphans at different ages, which was directly related to their rate of recovery. A full recovery could be made if adoption occurred before the age of 6 months. This includes both emotional and intellectual developmental recoveries. These conclusions were supported by the Bucharest Early Intervention project carried out by Zeanah et al, who demonstrated that 65% of their sample of 95 orphans displayed signs of disorganised attachments, compared to only 20% of the healthy, non-deprived control group.
• The main advantage of Rutter's study, compared to other adoption studies, is that he was able to study the effects of institutionalisation in isolation through removing the confounding and extraneous variables of PTSD and trauma often associated with war orphans. This increases the confidence that researchers can place in drawing reliable conclusions about the effects of institutionalisation and the displayed differential rates of recovery.
• — A key methodological issue associated with Rutter's study is the focus on short-term recovery, rather than long-term rates. For example, just because a child adopted at the age of 3 years olds does not exhibit normal intellectual development at age 4, does not necessarily mean that the child is retarded or that they will not achieve normal development at a later point in their lives.

  Therefore, to increase the validity of the conclusions drawn, it would have been better to carry out the study across a longer time scale.
• Low ecological validity 


  the conditions of the Romanian orphanages were especially poor. For example, the orphanages did not provide any intellectual stimulation for the orphans, which may have had a larger impact on their intellectual development compared to maternal deprivation as a single cause. Cases of abuse were also frequently reported.Since the average orphanage would have considerably better conditions, this suggests that the findings cannot be generalised beyond the research setting they were found in.
• Attachment Disorder


  Attachment disorder has recently been recognised as a distinct psychiatric condition and included in the DSM. It is essentially what psychologists like Sptiz and Bowlby and Rutter have been writing about for about 50 years: when some children experience disruptions of early attachments this affects their social and emotional development.
• Signs of Attachment disorder 


  • No preferred attachment figure.
  • An inability to interact and relate to others that is evident before the age of five.
  • Experience of severe neglect or frequent change of caregivers

  These are two kinds of attachment disorders:

  Reactive/ Inhibited : shy, withdrawn and unable to cope most social stations

  Disinhibted attachment : overly friendly and attention seeking
• Zeanah et al. The Bucharest Early Intervention Project : Procedure


  1. Used the strange situation to assess attachment type in 95 children aged 12-31 months who had spent most (an average of 90%) of their lives in institutional care

  2. Compared to a control group of 50 children who had never lived in an institution

  3. Carers were asked about whether the child displayed any of the characteristics of disinhibited attachment such as clinginess and/or attention seeking behaviour directed inappropriately at all adults
• Zeanah‘s findings

  19% of institutional group were securely attached vs 74% of control group.

  65% of institutional group had disorganised attachment

  44% of institutional group had features of disinhibited attachment vs less than 20% of control group
• Zeanah’s conclusions

  Institutionalisation has a significant negative effect on childens attachment type
• Real life application 


  Langton found that studies led to improvements in the way children are cared for in institutions. eg given one key worker- better probability of developing normal attachment
• Zeanahused random allocation to either fostering/ institution. This removes confounding variables- such as parents choosing child based on temperament

  however ethically critisised as institutional group suffered in terms of mental retardation and disinhibited attachment